Reliance Jio Phone 2 launched at Rs 2,999: A look at the features

All you need to know about the latest Reliance Jio Phone 2—its price, features and launch date

Mukesh Ambani announced at RIL AGM that the three most popular apps YouTube, WhatsApp and Facebook will be available to all JioPhone users from 15 August.

Mumbai: Reliance Jio Phone users will soon be able to access WhatsApp, Facebook and YouTube on their phones, Reliance Industries Ltd chairman Mukesh Ambani announced at RIL AGM today while unveiling Jio Phone 2 at an introductory price of Rs 2,999. Ambani also announced a new Reliance Jio offer under which you can exchange your old feature phone for a new Jio Phone by paying just Rs 501.

“Starting 15th August, we have another exciting offer for common Indians. They can purchase our JioPhone 2 at an introductory price of only Rs 2,999,” Mukesh Ambani said.

Under Jio Phone’s ‘Monsoon Hungama’ offer, you can exchange your old feature phone against a brand new Jio Phone for an effective entry price of just Rs 501 in place of Rs 1,500.

Jio Phone 2 specifications

Reliance Jio Phone 2, an upgraded version of the popular Jio Phone, has a QWERTY keypad, supports dual SIM cards, VoLTE and runs on KaiOS operating system.

The smart feature phone comes with 512MB of RAM and 4GB of ROM. Jio Phone 2 has a basic 2 MP rear camera and VGA front-facing camera for selfies.

The three most popular apps YouTube, WhatsApp and Facebook will be available to all the JioPhone users from 15 August.

Mukesh Ambani outlined a target of garnering 100 million Jio Phone users in the “shortest possible time”. One of the biggest drawbacks of the Jio Phone so far was its inability to access popular apps like WhatsApp, Facebook and YouTube. But now with added capabilities and functionalities for JioPhone, all this will be possible in the internet-enabled feature phone that offers 4G connectivity.

According to Mukesh Ambani, 500 million Indians still use feature phones without internet capabilities. “The doors of digital life are closed to them because of the problem of affordability,” Ambani said pointing out that this had been the driving force behind last year’s launch of Jio Phone at a fully-refundable deposit of Rs 1,500, that made it effectively free. The company already has 25 million Jio Phone users.

“With the added functionalities, our wider network reach across India and strong retail presence across India, the goal that I have now set for our Jio team is to enable 100 million users on this Jio Phone platform in the shortest possible time,” he said.

The telecom venture of Reliance Industries whose aggressive tariff positioning in the market is backed by Rs 2,50,000 crore investments in digital infrastructure, has amassed over 215 million mobile subscribers within 22 months of launch. “Even after serving the needs of our 215 plus million customers, the capacity utilisation of the Jio network is less than 20 per cent, which means, we can multiply our customer base without additional investment,” he said.

Ambani said Jio is on track to achieving the target of 99% population coverage with 4G-LTE, an expansion that would ensure its presence in every district, taluk, gram panchayat and village of India.